The Asylum Demon was something beyond furious. Its head bled profusely, the spot Thomas had cut the crown off its head from, still trying to heal itself. And though its head was even more vulnerable than before, it seemed as if Oscar and Thomas did even less damage than before. When they plunged their blades in the beasts head, it didn't so much as stagger as yell in frustration.

Once the duo were shaken off its head, it went on the immediate defense. It smashed its hammer down on Oscar, who dodged away before it tried to stomp on him. Thomas stabbed its leg and the demon swung around, hitting him into the wall. This time, Thomas recovered from it.

The demon grabbed Oscar and threw him in the wall. Thomas dodged a stomp, before climbing the beast. It tried to shake him off, but Thomas gouged one eye out. The beast staggered, Oscar grabbed the crown and broke its leg. The demon's hammer came down and broke Oscar's shield in retaliation.

Using its distraction, Thomas ran around and smashed the demon's other leg. It fell on its face, nearly crushing Oscar. Thomas didn't waste a moment, and beheaded the demon, saving Oscar as the beast evaporated into souls.

As they felt the rush of souls enter their own, Thomas ran to Oscars aid. The Astoran was heavily injured from the demon falling on top of him, but found it in himself to still speak and drink from his estus flask.

"I-I'm not gonna die from tubby falling on top of me. Good job there, Thomas. I could not have done it without you."

"Crock shit, and you know it. Now hurry up and heal a leg so I can take you back to the bonfire. Imma go grab whatever the demon left behind."

Oscar watched as the young undead ran over to the demon's soul, as it lay on the ground, as giant as itself was. Thomas grabbed the soul and jumped in jubilation soon afterwards. Oscar found out why, when Thomas pulled out the demon's great hammer, its weight so much that he couldn't do much but drag it on the ground. Thomas put the hammer back and went to Oscar, checking to see if he was healed enough to move, and they went to rest at the bonfire.

The flame was a comforting sight, as Oscar sat at it and felt all his injuries heal along with the estus flask in his hand. They sat in comfortable silence for a time, before Thomas rose up and motioned for Oscar to do the same as they went into the same room they had fought the demon in. Oscar had thought they'd leave as soon as possible, but Thomas had other plans as he pulled out the demon's great hammer.

"Thomas, why do you have that out? You can't use it."

"Au contraire, my good friend. I can use it for just fine. Now, make sure you're all healed up. The fall is gonna be the worst part."

Before Oscar can ask what Thomas is doing, the boy pulls the great hammer up over his shoulder, and slams it back down on the ground. A demonic yell can be heard from down below, as the stone in the ground shifts at the force behind the blow. Thomas didn't stop his actions, as the sound of the demon just made him do it faster. He would pick the hammer up with all his might, and drop it right back down. With one last strike to the floor, it fell right beneath Oscar, who watched as Thomas backed up at the sight of the demon below. The astoran thought for only a moment that Thomas had abandoned him there, before his senses were bombarded by the pain of the fall and the smell of the room he found himself in.

The sight of a demon was enough to get Oscar off his sore back and behind a pillar, to drink from the estus flask. The demon walked out into the light, its eyes looking both curious and furious at the hole in the ceiling. Oscar thought he would have to fight the demon alone, but then, out of nowhere, Thomas came sprinting out, and jumped down into the hole. The great hammer held above his head, Thomas swung it down just as he came close enough to the demon itself. A loud crack sounds out as the demon is killed with one fatal strike and evaporates into souls.

Falling to the ground with minimal damage being taken, Thomas rushes over to Oscar and gives him something akin to an apologetic look.

"Sorry about that Os, I figured that you could distract the demon while I waited for its head to get into position."

"You-*huff*-could have at least told me-*huff*-about it."

"Yep, my bad. But hey, you're fine, barely a scratch on the sturdy armor of yours!"

Thomas visibly recoils at the sight of Oscar's back plate of armor. There's a giant dent in it, which doesn't look all that comfortable if any of them were being honest. And Oscar was all too willing to be honest about it, it was jabbing into his back after all. He sent Thomas a dry look as the young undead led him to the exit of the place. It was a ladder that led them back to the hallway Thomas had originally come through. It isn't long until the duo come upon the doors leading to a cliff that will allow them to leave this place. But as they were on their way, Thomas looks back at the giant doors that he never learned of what were behind them.

"Yo, Oscar. Are those the main doors to the asylum?"

"Hm? Oh, yes they are. They're locked up tight though, and I didn't have the key to unlock them. That's why I was on the roof, the first time you saw me."

"Oh, ok. That makes sense. Welp, what's beyond them? Like, where did you come from?"

"If you mean how did I get here, there are mountains and bridges that connect this place to a faraway settlement. It was a rather long journey, thankfully there were bonfires placed in some key points, so I never had to start from the very start."

"Ah, yeah that can be annoying. Thanks for the exposition dump, Oscar. Pretty interesting."

"Thank you? Well, nevermind all that. The doors out of here are right there, let's get a move on."

"That we shall."

Using the key Thomas had grabbed off the Asylum Demon, the duo unlocked the giant doors and walked out to be greeted by the sight of a walkway to a small cliff. As they walked up and Thomas went to get a soul item, Oscar looked around, confused as to how they were supposed to get to the next destination in their journey. That was when he saw what looked like a giant crow, simple standing off to the side, waiting for the duo to greet it. Oscar bowed to the fair creature, with Thomas following suite once he stopped laughing at the sight. The crow seemed pleased with their actions, jabbing Thomas in the head for his laughter, and showed them its back as it spread its wings out.

"W--what are we supposed to do now, Seer?"

"I think it wants us to get on its back. I'm not sure though, normally it just grabs the chosen undead and carries them to Firelink Shrine."

"Firelink Shrine? Is that our next destination? Fascinating."

"Yeah, it's a pretty nice pla-"

"CAW, CAW!"

"Yeah yeah, we hear you birdy. Welp Oscar, climb on."

With a tad bit of reluctance, Oscar climbed onto the animals back, feeling its body pulse and feathers ruffle under his touch. Adjusting himself to find some balance, Oscar found that he quite liked the feeling of riding the winged animal. But when Thomas went to climb onto the crows back, it quickly shook him off, turning around to face him. It stared at Thomas, seemingly adjusting to the knight on its back as it thought something. It then started to fly off the ground, taking a moment to find the right amount of force needed to lift itself up as it then grabbed Thomas in its talons.

Quickly realizing what it was doing, Thomas let out one loud scream as he was carried through the air. Oscar gave no words of comfort to Thomas, who stopped yelling after a minute, and just watched the view as the crow soared through the air. The ride was a moderate length, but it felt like forever to Oscar, who loved the view from up above. Thomas was having a rather nice time as well, after he stopped screaming of course. The view was rather nice, if he was being honest, but his view was partially obscured by one of the crows talons.

Soon, they caught sight of their next destination, Firelink Shrine. Loving the sensation of flying, the two astorans were rather sad to have the trip cut short. But all good things must come to an end, and the two were dropped off right next to the main bonfire as the crow went to its perch. Taking in the view of the place, Oscar was drawn to the blazing bonfire right next to him and his friend. Taking his time to rest at it, the astoran watched as Thomas ran over to some fellow casually sitting on some rubble. The place must have been grand and beautiful once, hadn't it? Oscar thought as he gave into and fell asleep next to the warmth of the bonfire.

"Your friend seems to have taken a liking to the bonfire. The sorry fool. He won't last a day here."

Getting to see the Crestfallen Warrior in 4k graphics, he didn't look like what Thomas had remembered. Of course, his looks didn't really matter much in the equation. It was his personality that Thomas was focused on, as it was as cold and empty as he thought it'd be.

"Very astute observation there Cresty. How'd you come up with it?"

The knight gave Thomas a strange look before dropping the hint of a smile he had before.

"Don't call me Cresty, you strange knight."

"Well, you haven't given me your name yet, and you're just a crestfallen knight, so what else can I call you?"

"Why should I give you my name, when you haven't even given me yours? What sense does that make?"

"Bah, forget it. I have no name to give anyhow. I probably forgot it after some death in Blighttown. If you have your wits about you, you'd best avoid that place."

Thomas didn't say anything to that, instead choosing to go and grab something from his satchel. He pulled out a twin humanity, the sight of it almost shocking the Crestfallen knight, before dropping his face once again. What had shocked him however, was the sight of the knight as he went and pulled the two humanities apart. He held one of them out to the Crestfallen knight, a look of kindness just oozing from his features. The Crestfallen knight would have gagged if not for the confusion he felt from the knight's actions. But before he could say anything, the knight beat him to the punch.

"My name is Thomas. Thomas of Astora. Would you like a humanity?"

The Crestfallen Warrior didn't say anything to Thomas, instead just staring at the humanity as if it had insulted him and his mother. Only enough, he couldn't remember if he had one, now that he thought about it.

"...are you a mad hollow? Why would you just offer a humanity, like that?"

"I don't need it. No amount of death is gonna make me go hollow!"

Again, another long moment of silence between the two.

"...are you mocking me? You think I'm so close to hollowing that I need a humanity?"

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist. I don't give two rat asses about how close you are to hollowing. This is a sign that I mean no harm. I ain''t trying to insult you."

"Well, I did in fact take offense. Now leave before I kill you myself."

"Is that a th-"

"Don't test my patience boy. You're still a little wet behind the ears, so I think it unwise to try me."

"My god are you irritating, fine I'll leave."

The crestfallen warrior didn't hear Thomas whisper under his breath, "No wonder you don't become an ally in the game. I'd avoid you as much as possible if I could help it." but he did see that way the young undead had tried to sneak a middle finger at him. He was almost impressed actually, that a lucky undead such as him had the nerve to try to approach someone as unapproachable as him. Oh, he had forgotten to warn him about the extra bell in Blighttown, hadn't he? Eh, he could just tell them the next time he saw them. Or not. Who knows?

Thomas shook Oscar awake, the encounter with the Crestfallen Warrior having dampened his mood. He didn't know what he was hoping to achieve by offering a humanity like that, but it had been such a good idea in his head. Well, enough of that, he needed to get some stuff done here before he left for Undead Burg. And he was gonna need Oscars help with it, too.

"Hey, hey Oscar. Wake up, Buddy. I need your help."

"Mm..what is it, Seer? Is this another one of your bizarre plans?"

"Right on the money, now come on, we're going to a cemetery."

"...fine."

Oscar reluctantly got up from his spot next to the bonfire, and followed Thomas down to a staircaseleasding to a graveyard, just as the young undead had said. Giving him a brief rundown of what to do, which was just run ahead and grab the enemies attention, Thomas sent Oscar into the fray. Not liking the feel of this place, Oscar kept walking forward, wondering where the enemies Thomas had talked about, were. That's when he saw a pile of bones move, and then another, and now he had two skeletons standing in front of him, scimitars at the ready.

"Shit." The astoran thought as he raised his arm, only to remember that the asylum demon had broken his shield. Going with the next best thing, Oscar raised his sword and held it with both hands as he parried each and every attack of the skeletons. They were more for brute force, rather than strategy or thoughtful attacks, so it was rather easy for Oscar to avoid their attacks. But no matter how many times he hit them, the skeletons kept rising up and walking off any damage he might have inflicted on them.

And as the skeletons started pushing Oscar back, he realized that there were more bones near the tombstones. He watched as the bones started to rise, and thought about running back to Thomas, two were stronger than just one, after all. But then he thought about what Thomas had asked of him, and his pride told him that he had to follow through on it. So with no more second thoughts, Oscar took off running into the cemetery, making sure to alert as many skeletons as he could. He didn't take a look back to see if Thomas was completing whatever goal he had gone for, as he just kept running circles around the graveyard.

Soon, every skeleton in the graveyard was trailing after Oscar, and the astoran didn't know what he was supposed to do. Run back? No, Thomas hadn't given the all clear to do that yet. Wait, did he ever tell him if he'd even give an all clear?! Oscar took a moment to think about it, and started to panic even more. Not because he thought Thomas would leave him to die, he'd been disproven about that before, but because he didn't know how long he'd have to pull the skeletons along. Unlike the creatures trailing after him, Oscar didn't have seemingly limitless stamina, he'd eventually slow down.

Thankfully, Oscar saw something blur out the corner of his eye. It was Thomas, and he was leading the skeletons away from Oscar! He gave Oscar a hand motion, signifying to run back to the bonfire, and that's exactly what he did. But Oscar wasn't all that willing to leave his friend, so he waited at the stairs, observing Thomas and waiting to see what his plan was to get rid of all of the skeletons chasing him. That's when he witnessed Thomas go and jump off of the side of the cliff, the skeletons jumping after him. Oscar had nothing to say as he watched his friend plummet and heard an almost comical scream come from him. The souls Thomas had were left right at the point where he had jumped, so Oscar grabbed them and headed back for the bonfire in silence.

The sight that Oscar came upon at the bonfire, was Thomas swinging a Zwhiehander, as the knight sitting across from the bonfire gave the young undead an unimpressed look. Giving only the barest of nods to the young undead, Oscar gave him his lost souls and sat at the bonfire. Thomas seemed to want to talk, however, so Oscar didn't get his much desired rest for a growing headache of his.

"That was a great plan, if I do say so myself."

"You just want to give me a headache, don't you, Seer?"

"Hm, yeah that's part of my plan, I guess."

"I don't know why I worry about you. You'll just come back here every time you fall off a ledge or hit a wall."

"Hey, you're a great knight. And great knights help and worry about others. Don't quit your day job."

"Uh, I don't know what that phrase means, but sure thing."

"Good, now come on. I need to meet one more person and then we can head for Undead Burg."

A tad sad he had to leave the bonfire again, Oscar absentmindedly followed Thomas down some other flight of stairs, this time coming upon a small cliff side before a second flight of stairs leading even lower. But instead of going down the second flight, Thomas continued past and looked to what appeared to be a cell carved into the side of the cliff. Inside was a girl, looking around 18, but Oscar was an awful judge of looks and age, so what did he know.

At the sound of the two knights stopping in front of her cell bars, the girl raised her head to look at them, and Oscar was shocked from what he saw. He could almost excuse the dirty dress, for she was in a dirt cell, after all, but her chin was covered in blood. He understood why she made no move to speak, for he had heard of ways the gods followers had silenced people in the past, but he couldn't fathom what she could have said to deserve this.

"Hi there Anastacia. How's it been?"

"Don't give me that look, Os. I know it was a dumb question."

"Why are we here, Seer? I don't know any healing spells that can fix tongue's. Or heal anything for that matter. I'm not a healer."

The girl, now named Anastacia, shook her head vigorously at the mention of healing her tongue. Oscar was about to ask why she looked so distraught by the idea, but Thomas cut him off.

"Healing her tongue can come later. I just want to get her out of that cell."

"Oh, alright then. How do we do that?"

"Simple. Break the bars off."

"...huh?"

"I'll be here as moral support."

"...what?"